Chasing Secrets
by AFincorporated
Summary: (Previously "Finding the Secret"). Jamie di Angelo-Solace's dads are hiding something. She and her friends soon find out that they're legacies, but there's something threatening the Underworld itself. They're sent on a quest to help Hades save his realm. But to defeat the creatures of darkness they'll have to face their own worst fears, or watch their loved ones die.
1. Truth or Dare

**AN: hi, this is an F story (not an A story, because this is a shared account). I don't own PJO or HoO, and all the ships are the ones from the books. Please leave a review/follow/favorite this story or me. Later, tater!**

 _Diary pages-_

Hi. I guess. I'm going to say, first off, that this whole "diary" thing wasn't my idea. Chiron asked me to write down everything from the beginning, and thought that a diary would be a good way to do it. Thank you, Chiron, for my new chore. I don't like writing, but you can't really argue with that guy.

So anyway. I think it all started in October, a week before I started at the new school. The school was new because I had gotten kicked out of my old school, but that was the usual thing for me. I'm what teachers call a, "problem student", which means that I'm not really a fan of following rules. And I'm ADHD and mildly dyslexic, and that doesn't exactly make things easier.

Dad and Padre were having over all their friends, which would've been fine, but I'm always expected to hang out with their weirdo kids. Mira Grace, Tay Valdez, Frederick Chase-Jackson, Charles Chase-Jackson, and my cousin Theo Zhang. They were all nice-but babysitting them wasn't what I wanted to do that night.

But Dad and Padre were having a party, and I didn't want to get grounded if I made myself scarce that night. I knew if I disappointed Padre, he would fix me with that look, and say, "Jamie di Angelo-Solace, what do you have to say for yourself?". Dad would probably stick up for me if it was anything but their friends' kids'.

You might be a little confused about the Dad and Padre thing. They aren't my birth parents-my mom died when I was three and I never met my birth dad, so they adopted me when I was five. Dad is Will Solace, and Padre (Italian for father) is Nico di Angelo.

I wasn't about to dress up for a party I didn't want to go to, so I wore my favorite outfit: torn acid-washed skinny jeans, a baggy black Edgar Allen Poe t-shirt with a red silhouette of a raven on the front, Padre's silver skull ring on a chain around my neck (it had been a present when I had first been adopted, and I never went anywhere without it), and my red-and-white converse. Then I tied my long blond hair in a braid over one shoulder, and put on my black fedora. Another thing I don't go anywhere without. I have a heart-shaped face, freckles, and dark brown eyes.

Then I trooped down the stairs to help prepare for the party. Dad was in the kitchen, unsurprisingly, blond hair flopping into his eyes and wearing a tie and button-up shirt with the sleeves pushed up. He was leaning against the counter on the phone, ordering the pizza, and grinned and winked when he saw me. Sometimes I wonder how Dad and Padre ever got together-they're polar opposites.

I found Padre on the back porch, hanging paper lanterns with candles in them to light up the deck. He hadn't dressed up either, in his black jeans and dark blue t-shirt. His dark hair was uncombed and stuck up at the back, and a black blazer and tie were sitting unwanted on the table.

"I think Dad wants you to wear these," I said, holding up the blazer and tie.

"He doesn't make _you_ dress up." Padre complained, hopping down off the chair he was standing on and glaring bitterly at the blazer and tie. "It's not fair."

"That's because your his husband and I'm his daughter. C'mon, it'll make his day if you just put them on." Padre's determination melted when I flashed him a grin. He snatched them away from me, grumbling, and put them on. But he refused to tighten the tie properly. I let it go-I hadn't expected to be able to actually get him to do it.

"Happy now?" He demanded, and I nodded.

Then the doorbell rang. "Come on, your friends and their kooky kids are here."

He paused on his way back inside. I could hear the sounds of laughing and talking in the front hall, but I wasn't in any hurry to go in. "Sorry about making you hang out tonight. I know I would've hated it when _I_ was fourteen."

"It's fine." I shrugged. "They could be worse. They could be vampires."

He broke into a rare grin. "There's always that."

We went back inside. It was Leo, Calypso, and Tay. I think Tay is short for Taygene, apparently one of Calypso's sisters. Leo was cackling at something Tay had just said, and I was surprised to see he was in a tux. But I was willing to bet that Calypso had had to chain him to the floor to get it on him. Calypso herself had her long shining hair in a beautiful plait, and wore a white blouse dress with a golden chain belt.

Tay grinned when she saw me. Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Tay, but we didn't have a lot in common. I paint and write poetry, she sings and builds things. I'm not seeing the connection.

Tay is fifteen, a year older then me, and her curly brown hair was in a ponytail. She wore a red party dress and black leggings and boots, and pearl earrings.

"Hi, Jamie!" Tay said, holding her hand up for a high-five. I high-fived her. It's hard to be grumpy around Tay-she almost radiates positivity.

"Hey, Tay." I said, trying to smile. "Hi Leo, hi Calypso."

"Wassup, Jabberwock?" Leo grinned, and Calypso hugged me. Jabberwock has been my nickname ever since I was nine, when I told the kids of Dad and Padre's friends a ghost story about the Jabberwocky and made them all run screaming to their parents. And also, according to Padre, gave them nightmares.

I didn't get the chance to answer before the doorbell rang again and the Chase-Jackson family was crowding into the front hall. Percy hugged Padre and Dad and me, even though Padre and are the opposite of huggy. Annabeth greeted Leo and Calypso, and Tay immediately began chattering away to Fred and Charles. Fred is her age, and Charles is seven. Frederick ("Fred") has blond hair and sea-green eyes, and his brother has black hair and gray eyes. Annabeth had on a gray party dress, and Percy and his sons wore button-up shirts and ties.

"Hi, Jamie." Annabeth smiled at me. Annabeth is probably my favorite out of my parents' friends'. She's freaky smart, and she's the CEO of an architecture company. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you, too," I said politely.

"How's your writing going?" She asked, and unlike 80% of the people I meet she actually seemed to be interested.

"Good," I said truthfully. "One of my poems was just published in an anthology."

"That's great! Percy, did you hear that?"

"You got published? That's so cool!" Percy is pretty much just a big kid. There's almost zero difference between him and his fifteen-year-old son.

Soon the Grace's were arriving. Jason, Piper, and their daughter Miracle (we call her Mira). Mira's brown hair was curled for the occasion, and her vivid blue eyes were almost startling. Thankfully, she wasn't in a dress either, but she did have on a pink button-up shirt, a black skirt, and pink flats. Mira is actually the nicest person I know, but she's also uber shy, and two years younger then me, eleven.

I knew Mira wouldn't talk to any of us, and I didn't want her to be lonely. "Hi, Mira." I said. I'm not the friendliest person myself, but Mira looked happy to see me. "What's up?"

"Nothing much." She said, and her voice was quiet. Actually, her voice is always quiet. "Do you know when the Zhang's are getting here?"

"Nope." I said. "They have to fly in from California, so they'll probably be a little late. Why do they even live in California?"

"Dunno." Mira shrugged. "Blue skies?"

"Hollywood?"

"The walk of fame?"

"The great weather? Maybe they haven't heard about the whole earthquake thing." I wiggled my eyebrows, and Mira giggled.

"I think Frank's job is there."

"Pfft, that's just their excuse for being scared of me, their terrible horrible niece. Maybe they're scared I'll eat Theo!" I made a monster face and wiggled my fingers, and Mira cracked up again. I smiled. Mira is probably the only person in the world that thinks I'm funny.

Just then, the Zhangs arrived. Aunt Hazel and Uncle Frank came in first, with Theo trailing along behind them. He wore a bear-shaped backpack, and his dark hair hung almost to his shoulders. He wants to be a doctor, and I could see the shape of books through the cloth of his backpack. Out of all the guests, I knew the least about Theo. He lived in California, after all, and I only see the Zhangs once a year-the two weeks of the summer they spend in New York, and the week of Christmas when they come to celebrate with us. He might be my cousin, but that's not enough time to know each other.

Uncle Frank swept me up in a bearhug before I could protest. I didn't know what he did…. I had once heard something about running a camp? But he was a big guy. Then Aunt Hazel, Padre's sister, hugged me. She's a horse trainer, and always smelled like fresh earth and hay.

Theo and I high-fived awkwardly, and then Tay reappeared at my shoulder as if by magic.

"Come on! Fred, Charles, and I are going out back. Are you three coming or what?" Theo followed her without argument, and Mira and I shrugged at eachother.

"Might as well."

It was nice to be out on the back porch, away from the adults. Mira sat down on a lawn chair, but Fred balanced to sit on the railing. Charles sat down on the porch by his older brother's feet, big gray eyes staring around at us like two full-moons. Theo leaned against the railing, and Tay plopped down next to Mira, making her jump. I just leaned against the house, wishing I was with my friends right now instead of here.

"What do you guys want to do?" Tay asked, taking charge.

"We could go swimming in the lake down the road," Fred said at once.

"It's October. You'd get hypothermia and die." I said.

"You're a ray of sunshine." Fred said, sticking his tongue out at me. "We could go swimming! I don't get cold. Con doesn't either, do you, Char?" Charles shook his head. "See?"

"The rest of us do, though," Theo said. "We could play a game."

"Like what?" Tay asked, excited.

"Truth or dare!" Fred cheered.

"I'm down with that." I nodded. Maybe a chance to find out more about the others. "Mira? You in?" She nodded.

"Sounds fun."

"I want to play!" Charles giggled.

"Awesome." Tay nodded.

"Cool!" Fred pointed to himself. "I'll go first." Nobody argued. "Tay, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Fred's grin stretched wider, like that was the answer he was hoping for. "Okay. Do you know what our parents are hiding?" The mood dropped, just like that. The quiet excitement of a moment before was now tense, worried, even scared. Charles whimpered a little, so Fred jumped down from the railing and carried him to sit at the table with Tay and Mira. It didn't help that Padre's lanterns cast only a dim glow across the porch, making everything seem creepier and more dangerous.

Tay wasn't smiling now. "What do you mean?"

"Haven't you guys noticed?" Fred asked. "They're hiding something, all of them. I've seen it for years, but mom and dad won't answer questions. I thought maybe one of you would know what the big secret is. You guys have seen it, too, right?"

Mira nodded. "When I come in the room, they stop talking."

"Sometimes when they come home, they look like they've seen a ghost but they'll never tell me what it was." Tay said sadly.

"Mom and Dad won't tell me what they do for a living, or where they do it." Theo muttered.

"They give each other the most annoying secret looks when they think I'm not looking." I say. I've seen it, just the way the others have. I never realized it, but now that Fred has said it it couldn't be anything else. They're keeping something big from their kids.

"The secret box." Charles said. Everyone stares at him, even Fred.

"What secret box, Char?" Fred asked, and Charles gives him a surprised look.

"You haven't seen it? I found it months ago. Mommy and Dad keep a big oak box hidden in their closet and they lock it with a key. The key on Mommy's necklace. I flashed back to talking to Annabeth in my mind. Sure enough, she was wearing a silver key on a bronze chain around her neck. "I think there's something about the secret in the secret box."

Fred nods slowly. "I've seen that chest, but I didn't think much of it. You're right, Charlie, that probably has something to do with it."

"Then check in it when you get home!" I burst out. "Guys, we have to figure this out. That box could be our one big chance to find out more about our parents. They'll never just tell us. You two have to steal the key when you get home and search the chest while Percy and Annabeth are sleeping."

"But…" Suddenly Fred hesitates, and I realize for the first time that he's scared. "What if it's something awful? What if it's, like, a dead body or something?"

"Don't worry, it won't be." Tay reassured him, but I wasn't so sure. It could be something terrible.

"We'll do it together." Theo said suddenly. We all looked at him. "This has to do with all of us. We'll sneak out tonight and come to your house, and we can figure this out together."

"Is that a good idea?" Mira asked nervously.

"This is the best way," I said, agreeing with my cousin. "We have to do this together. It's about all of us. And if it is something terrible," I swallowed hard. "Then we'll be together when we run."

"You mean _run away?_ " Tay looked shocked. "I could never do that!"

"We might have to." I challenged. "What if it is a dead body? Or something even worse? What if we're in danger by sticking around? We'll have better chances together then on our own.

"I don't wanna run away." Charles whined.

"We may not have to, Char." Fred said, holding his brother in his lap. There was a determined glint in his sea-green eyes that I had never seen before. "But we're going to do this. Together." He held out his hand over the middle of the round table.

"Together," Tay put her hand on top of his.

"Together." Theo joined them, looking grim.

"Together." I said, putting my own hand on top of my cousin's light brown one. "Mira, we would understand if you want to stay out. We could do this and then tell you-"

"No." She said, putting her hand on the pile. "Together. It's about all of us, so we have to do this with all of us. I'll bring my things, in a backpack. You guys should as well."

"Together." Charles just hugged Fred.

"Okay, pack your stuff after the party, and be at my house at 1:00 tonight." Fred said.

Then Dad came out to tell us it was time for pizza.

 **Thanks for reading, please review/favorite/follow. I will update as soon as I can.**


	2. Dreaming

**AN: thanks for reading this far! I don't own PJO or HoO.**

 **A big thanks to** _ **frosty sleeper**_ **and** _ **Lord of Potatoes (guest)**_ **for being the first (and hopefully not last) ones to review this story. Give them a big hand, they deserve it. Please review/follow/favorite this story if you like it.**

 _Diary pages of Jamie di Angelo-Solace_

I couldn't believe I was going to actually do this. Dad and Padre had taken me in, given me a home and a family and a happy life. And now I was preparing to throw that away, just because of a stupid theory and a locked box in a closet? But I didn't know what was going on, and anyone will tell you that I'm too curious for my own good.

Dad kissed me goodnight, even though I was too old for that and we both knew it. Padre called, "Sleep tight, Jabberwock." with a small smile. Dad had told me once that Padre had rarely smiled before they adopted me. But thinking about that now just made me feel more guilty.

"We love you, kiddo." Dad said, closing my bedroom door. I lay awake, listening to my parents, my _family_ , get ready for bed and drift to sleep.

I climbed out of bed at 11:00 and flipped on the lamp by my bed, that wasn't bright enough to wake up Padre down the hall. He was a light sleeper. I crept around the room, and dressed in my black hoodie, studded with punk rock pins, acid-washed jeans, and my converse. I picked up my fedora. I didn't go anywhere without it.

My eyes fixed on the silver skull ring and its chain hanging from the switch of the lamp. I hung it around my neck. I knew it was the same ring I had worn every day for years, but it felt heavier. More dangerous and frightening. It was a symbol of my connection to my family, that I was about to leave behind. Maybe forever.

Then I pulled my school backpack out of the closet where I had abandoned it at the end of the last school year, brushed the dust off it, and started packing. I didn't know if I would be coming back tonight or not. It all depended on what we found in the locked chest. So I just brought what I would for a long camping trip-clothes, a flashlight, a crank radio, all the chocolate from my candy stash, and a warmer jacket.

I zipped up my hoodie, pulled my hat down over my eyes, and tightened the straps of my backpack. I turned the light off and tiptoed down the hall, to Dad and Padre's room. I kissed them both on the forehead, struggling not to cry. What if I never saw them again?

I wanted to leave them a note, just in case. I found a piece of paper and scribbled on it: _hi Dad,_ ciao _Padre. Just writing to let you know that I am okay. If you're reading this then it's morning and I'm not back yet, but I'm with the others and I will be okay. I want to believe that you are the people I love but you're hiding something and you always have been. I need to know the truth, so do they. Tay, Theo, Fred, Charles, and Mira are coming, too. I love you both no matter what. -Jamie the Jabberwock_

I left the note on my bed's pillow where they couldn't miss it, and walked right out the front door. My bike was in the garage, where I did my painting and writing. I said my goodbyes to my makeshift studio as well.

Then I swung onto my bike and pedaled away, fighting tears.

The Chase-Jackson's house was a long ride from mine. I was almost late, and I gave myself two hours to get there. There were no lights on in the house, and for a moment I thought the others had chickened out.

Then I saw several dark figures in the alley by the side of the house, and biked around to them. It was the others: Fred, holding Charles, Mira, Tay, and Theo. They all wore thick clothes and wore backpacks or satchels, and had the same grim determination on their faces that I did.

"Hi, guys," I said quietly. "We're all here?"

"Yeah." Theo said. He scooted closer to me, and I could tell he was majorly scared. I was his cousin and even though we didn't know eachother well, I thought it was my responsibility as his only family here to try and help him.

"Hey, it'll be okay." I said awkwardly. "We're in this together, so we can do it."

"When did you get so positive?" Tay asked. "It's an improvement."

"Don't worry," I growled. "It was temporary." Mira gave me a pleading look, and I calmed my tone a little. "Let's just do this. I hate suspense movies."

Fred led us into the house, and we stood nervously in the middle of the living room while Fred listened at the stairs. "They're asleep. We can head up, Mom keeps the key necklace on her nightstand. Who's sneakiest?" He whispered, glancing back at us.

Mira raised a tentative hand. He nodded. "It's the second door on the right. Mom has _radar_ ears, so be careful. All of us would be too noisy." He whispered. She nodded, and crept silently past him and up the stairs.

We waited silently in the living room, and I swear that none of us breathed until Mira came silently back down the stairs. She held up the key with a grin. "I got it." She mouthed. "Where's the chest?" Fred looked to Charles, who led us down the hall to the closet. He opened it, and pulled aside the back panel of the closet.

" _Dude,_ how did you find that?" Fred gaped (if in a whisper).

"I was looking for Christmas presents." Charles said, turning a little pink. Behind the back panel was a small room-another closet. The only thing inside was a large oak chest with a bronze lock and hinges.

"How did you never notice this, Freddy?" Tay asked. He glared at her. "Not how I meant that." Charles helped his older brother pull the large oak chest out of the closet and set it in the middle of the hall.

"Okay." Theo's voice shook a little. "This is it. Open it."

"I'm scared." Charles said, his arms wrapping around Fred's leg. Mira crouched and slid the key into the lock, turning it. The lock popped open. She looked up at us, eyes wide. I leaned over and dug my fingernails under the lid, helping Mira open the chest.

What was inside made me wish I had stayed in bed and forgotten about this whole thing.

Weapons. It was full of weapons. There was a long bow, at least a dozen bronze-tipped arrows, a bronze knife, a long bronze sword, three golden daggers, a large gold hammer, and a beautiful bronze shield with pictures on it long ago worn away from fire and use.

"Holy…" I whispered. This was scary. I was scared. "What have they been doing?"

"I don't know." Frank was shaking. He was hugging Charles so that he couldn't see what was in the chest.

"Why would they need these?" Theo asked. "What are they for?"

"This hasn't helped us at all!" I burst out, much louder then I meant. They all jumped and tumbled backward, and I went red. I lowered my voice. "This hasn't helped us! This has made things worse! It didn't answer anything, it just made more questions!"

"Jamie, _calm down!_ " Mira whimpered. "You'll wake them!" There was noise upstairs, talking, then footsteps. "Quickly!" She reached into the chest and pulled out the knife.

"What are you doing?" Theo hissed. "We have to go."

"Arm yourselves." Tay said. Her face was white. She held the gold hammer in her hands like it was toxic, but she was determined. "We need to be able to fight if we're going to figure this out. Grab a weapon and run. Meet you out back."

I reached into the chest, and my hands met the bow and arrows. Dad had made me take archery lessons when I was younger. I remembered how proud he was when I shot a bullseye. My hands started to shake. _Don't think about them right now._ I slung the bow and quiver of arrows over my back. Fred held the sword. Theo shoved the three daggers into his backpack with trembling hands. Charles had the shield, and it almost hurt to see the little boy holding something that could be used as a weapon.

"Come on." Fred hissed, already heading for the door. The footsteps were on the stairs, and I saw gray slippers. It was Annabeth. I trusted Annabeth, I liked Annabeth. I wanted to stay and talk to her and beg with her for answers, but my feet were carrying me out the door without asking permission. We were in the alley, running, I had forgotten about my bike, and the lights flicking on in the house and the shouts of Percy and Annabeth as they found their sons and weapons missing were already fading.

We ran until Charles couldn't anymore, and then we collapsed in a park under a tree, out of sight from the road. Mira, Charles, Tay, and finally Theo fell asleep, until it was just Fred and I.

Fred looked around sadly at the park. "Mom and Dad used to take me to this park in the summers. Dad taught me how to swim in that wading pool."

"I'm sorry this is happening." I said. I'm not the best with emotions. "It's hard for all of us. But we'll stick together, and we'll figure things out. Don't worry," I added, when he glanced at Charles, asleep on the grass. "We'll keep him safe."

"Why did mom and dad have this stuff?" Fred asked. "What were they hiding from us all this time?"

"I dunno." I said. I bit my lip. Then I decided to tell him something I didn't tell a lot of people. "I'm adopted, Fred." He looked at me with surprise. "My mom died when I was little and I don't know who my birth dad was. Will and Nico gave me a home. And now…" I looked at my hands. "I could lose my family all over again. We will figure this out, because we have to."

He nodded. "Get some sleep." he said. "I'll keep watch for anyone coming." I nodded, and lay down on the grass. But sleep was a long time coming.

The dream was unlike any I had ever had before. I was in a room, and there were no doors or windows. I knew I had to get out, but suddenly my feet were stuck to the floor. The room slowly filled with water. I screamed and fought, but I was trapped. I sucked in one final breath and then my head went under. I was still screaming in my mind, bubbles rising from my mouth, and then everything went black. I was lying gasping and shivering on my own bedroom floor, the water and room magically gone. I grinned, though-last night had all been a terrible dream.

Then I heard Dad and Padre, and spun around. Dad was crying, and Padre was trembling. They were reading my note. I tried to talk to them, but my voice was silenced. I tried to grab their arms, but my hands passed through them. I wasn't really there. This was just a dream.

"We have to find our daughter. We have to find Jamie."

Then I blinked, and everything changed. I was standing in the Chase-Jackson's kitchen again, but this time all of our parents were there, sitting around the round table. My note was sitting in the middle of them.

"They know we're hiding something from them, but they don't know what." Annabeth frowned at the note. "And so they came to our house and took all the weapons? That doesn't make sense."

"They wouldn't have known what was in the chest. They probably thought it would answer their questions." Percy said miserably.

"We have to find them." Padre said flatly. He stood next to Dad's chair. Dad just stared silently at the table. "We should be out searching, right now." His dark eyes had never seemed frightening before, but they did now. They were dark and stormy and angry, and they were glaring at the others, daring them to argue with him.

"Where do we even start?" Aunt Hazel asked, and her eyes were puffy and red. "They could be anywhere by now, they've been gone for hours."

"Not anywhere," Annabeth said. "Charles might've slowed them down a bit."

"But we found Jamie's bike in the alley," Dad said suddenly. "Why would she have left it behind? What could've happened that would make her leave it?"

"I think I scared them away." Annabeth said miserably. "I heard noises last night, and thought it was monsters. When I came downstairs the weapons were gone and the back door was open. It must have been them. That's when I checked on the boys and they were gone, and I called the rest of you."

"Daddy, Padre, I'm right here." I tried to speak again, ignoring what Piper was saying about train schedules. "Please, can't you see me?" Padre looked up.

"Jamie?"

"Padre!" I grinned.

"Nico, nobody's there." Hazel said, worried-looking.

"Jamie, what are you doing here? Where are you, what's going on?" I tried to tell him, but my mouth was frozen shut.

"Nico, Jamie's not there," Dad pleaded. I had to tell them where we were, because I knew now that they were not a danger to us, and I pointed in the direction of the park where we were all sleeping. "Is that where you are?" I nodded again. "We're coming, Jabberwock!" I grinned as Padre leapt up from his seat and sprinted for the door. The other grown-ups glanced at each other and ran after him, apparently thinking he had finally got nuts.

Suddenly, I heard Mira. And she was screaming in terror.

 **Well, that's chapter two. Sorry it was kind of angsty and there was a cliffhanger, but I really like cliffhangers, so get used to them. Please leave a review/follow/favorite this story.**


	3. Nemean Lion

**AN: Hi, thanks for reading this far. I don't own PJO or HoO. Please review/follow/favorite me or this story.**

 **Jon (guest): Theo doesn't know because Hazel and Frank don't live in camp Jupiter, they just live near it, so he doesn't know yet.**

 **caskett100fan: Jamie is an actual demigod, the others are legacies. You are right. (you have no idea how painful it is to admit anyone other then me is right. Ow, ow ow)**

 _Diary pages of Tay Valdez-_

I woke up first the next morning. And the first thing I saw was the big dog. Or, it could've been a dog. It was too big, for one thing- _crazy_ big. And it's fur flashed golden. It's eyes were angry, and when it growled it showed off huge fangs. It was on the other side of the park, but it's eyes were locked on us, asleep under a tree far from the road and any potential saviors.

"Um, guys-" The dog barked angrily, but it wasn't a dog. I was sure now. It was a lion. A big, _hungry_ lion. "Guys, wake up!" Mira and Charles stirred, and I poked Fred in the ribs with my hammer. He sat bolt upright, holding the sword out in front of him. "Everyone, wake up _now!_ " Mira, Charles, Fred, and Theo stumbled to their feet as the lion roared again and charged towards us. Mira let out an ear-splitting scream, and Jamie finally woke as well.

Her blond hair was tangled and her fedora was lopsided, but she was still the only one of us that had fighting experience. I mean, we had all been in fights (with the possible exceptions of Mira and probably Charles), we were all labeled troublemakers. But Jamie was the only real fighter, no question of that. She had been kicked out of more schools then I could count on one hand, had been suspended on twice that many occasions and had been in detention every other week for years. It was one of the reasons we weren't really friends. I'm a lover, she's a fighter.

And she fought this time. She was on her feet with her bow in her hands in a moment. "Get back!" She shouted, and we were happy to do as she said. Fred had Charles on his back, and held his sword and his brother's shield in his hands. Mira, trembling, held the knife in front of her face like it would help. Theo pulled me back behind Jamie. "Run!"

"We aren't leaving you!" Jamie's first arrow bounced harmlessly off of the lion's coat, but it turned around and snarled at us.

"Run, _now!"_ She yelled, and this time there was no arguing. We stumbled back, and Jamie fired again. The arrow bounced off once more. Theo grabbed my arm and pulled me down the street, but all I could do was stare as Jamie fought the lion all on her own.

 _Diary pages of Jamie di Angelo-Solace-_

The thing was frickin' huge. It was a lion-an honest-to-goodness lion, right there in the park. Some zookeeper was definitely gonna get fired today.

I fired two arrows at it, but they bounced off. This thing was majorly bad. I dove to one side as it lunged at me, powerful jaws closing on the air where I had been a moment before. My elbow burned from the fall, but I scrambled to my feet again and drew the arrow back in my bow.

Then there was a shout behind me. "Jamie!" Padre was here. Just like he had said in my dream. But how could a dream be real? It shouldn't be possible, but there he was. I could see the rest of them running along a block behind him.

I let the arrow fly, but again it bounced harmlessly off the lion's back. Padre shot past me, and in one hand he had… was that a baseball bat? No, a wicked black sword. But it didn't hurt the lion either.

"Not my daughter too, you evil-!" Padre turned, and twisted the sword into the lion's mouth. It exploded in a cloud of golden dust. I stood there, shivering, for a moment. Then Dad and Padre were on either side of me. Padre tried to take the bow, but my hands were clamped around it and I wasn't letting go. He gave up and let me have it. Dad was hugging me, saying something about the others, and I was talking but it took me a moment to realize that I was talking in Italian. The other parents and dad looked baffled, but Padre nodded as I explained what had happened.

"- _E poi il leone si presentò , ma le mie frecce non ha fatto male , e ho detto agli altri di correre, ma non so dove sono andati . E mi dispiace ho lasciato ho avuto paura e ho pensato che stavi nascondendo qualcosa e anche se eri mi fido di te e io sono così così dispiaciuto che ho anche pensato di poter essere malvagio , e-_ " I was nearly hyperventilating.

" _Calmati. Sarà bene_." Padre said, and Dad hugged me even though he clearly had no idea what we had just said.

"Where are the other kids?" Jason demanded. "Where's our daughter."

"T-they're fine," I said, pulling myself together. "I told them to run when I saw the lion."

"You shouldn't have done that! You can't fight monsters! You're fourteen!" Dad said, but I ignored him.

"Follow me." I said, turning and running the way the others had gone.

I pounded along the sidewalk, turned a corner, and nearly slammed into Theo who was halfway through the sentence, "-back and help her!"

"Theo!" Aunt Hazel cried, but he stumbled back when he saw her.

"Guys, they're okay!" I said, but Charles looked at his parents with big suspicious gray eyes. "Seriously, I had this dream, and the lion-trust me, then. You can trust them."

I'll spare you the drama of the parents hugging their missing kids and saying things like, "we were worried" and "so sorry". Percy lifted Charles up onto his shoulders and Fred gave his mother the sword shame-facedly. Aunt Hazel wouldn't let go of Theo's hand, and Leo apologized to Tay so many times she finally had to forgive him for keeping secrets from her. Dad hugged me until I couldn't breath, and Padre looked happier then I had ever seen him.

"We're sorry we kept this from you." Dad said, finally letting me go.

"But we thought it would keep you safe," Padre said.

"And we only wanted to keep you safe,"

"But we know now that hiding it only put you in more danger, so-"

"If you two don't pull yourselves together and start explaining this second I _swear-_ " I held my bow threateningly, but I didn't mean it and they both knew it.

Dad glanced at Padre. "We should explain when we get to camp."

"What camp?" All the others are listening now. "Where are we going?"

Suddenly there's a bright flash of light from right over my head. The lavender glow shines over my parent's faces, and I look up. It's a glowing purple M floating over my head, that dims and then blinks out.

"Morpheus." Padre rasps. "It can't be Morpheus. I always thought it must be Hecate."

"What was that?" I ask, panicking. "Who's Morpheus? I'm not Morpheus."

"You're a daughter of Morpheus." Dad winces, like every one of those words hurts to say. "Morpheus is your real father, Jabberwock."

"But-you're my fathers. Not some stupid guy and his glowy M." I said, and it was true. I'm not the type to lie to make people feel better. "Please, what's going on?"

"We have to go to camp." Padre clenched his jaw. "We have to go right now."

 **AN: ta-da! Chapter three. Please review/follow/favorite this story or me if you have the time, because I love that. Also: any questions or suggestions, please to leave them in the** **reviews,** **because I'm coming down with writers block and I need your help.**


	4. Gates of horn and ivory

**AN: I don't own anything from PJO or HoO. Please review/follow/favorite. And sorry about the whole accidentally-posting-a-chapter-from-the-wrong-story thing, that was dumb. Although I think that got deleted when I posted this, I'm not totally sure.**

 _Diary page of Jamie di Angelo-Solace-_

I was dreaming. At least I was like ninety-nine percent sure that I was dreaming-that or I had finally got crazy. I was hoping I was dreaming.

In the dream, I stood in a field of wildflowers, surrounded by trees, the sunny blue sky stretching outward above me. I was there all alone. But suddenly the ground beneath my feet began to rumble and shake. It split open, and then I was tumbling down into the shadows of the abyss. I tried to scream, but I couldn't. I could only fall, for what felt like forever.

Below me, I saw a pinprick of light. I grew bigger so fast that I was sure I would be a bug on a windshield any moment now. I fell out of the chasm, and emerged at the top of a huge cavern. Far to the left was a glowing golden metropolis, with immaculate buildings, green lawns, and a shining silver lake with three golden islands in the middle of it. Far to my right was flashes of fire, and the screams of a thousand tortured people. Stretching out in front of me was gray grass and burned trees, a million translucent people wandering around through the fields. At the far end of the gray fields was a huge obsidian palace, bloodred flags flapping over the parapets.

I knew what this place was. It was the Underworld, the place Padre used to tell me scary stories about when we went camping. And it was ruled by Hades, Padre's own father. I understood now why he always seemed to love the stories of this place.

I tried again to scream, but just before I hit the ground I slowed, so that I was just hovering. Then there was something like wind, and I was soaring along, just a few feet above the ground. The ghost-people cleared a path for me, like they knew I was coming. I shot towards the castle, and then I was rising up and flying over the castle walls. Below me was a ghostly garden, all pearly white and ruby red plants.

I lowered down, and was set neatly on my feet by the side of a pool of perfectly clear water, and was perfectly round. Set into the bottom of the pool was a mosaic made of thousands of miniscule stones, in every color. The mosaic showed two arches-one made of ivory, and the other of horn. Beyond the ivory arch, thousands of miniscule jewels glimmered and shone. Beyond the horn arch, obsidian and topaz formed a darker picture. I could only stare in awe.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I jumped. I hadn't even noticed the man come up behind me. I spun around and nearly fell into the pool. "Careful!" He caught my arm, and I was shocked to see that he could touch me. I thought that wasn't possible in dreams. "You don't want to fall in there."

The man was possibly the strangest I'd ever seen. He wore a black-and-white tux, under a long black trench coat with buttons painted white. Two huge smoky-gray wings stretched out behind him. He was totally bald, but wore a black fedora-just like my own. His face was round, but it was also foggy, not totally in focus. He held a large mahogany box, with designs of horn and ivory on it.

He let go of my arm. "I am Morpheus."

"Y-You're Morpheus? My birth dad?" I took a step back. "The god of dreams? Does that mean all this is really happening?"

"Yes, if only in your mind. That is my power. I've sent you this dream so we can talk. You can do that as well, you know-whenever my children wish it, they are free to use the gates.

"What gates?" I demanded. He pointed to the pool.

"The gates of horn and ivory, of course." He chuckled. Then there was a beeping sound, and he jumped. "Sorry, I had better take this." Morpheus opened the box. Inside were dozens of objects-a gold first place trophy, a high-heeled shoe, a shark tooth, a bowtie-and so many other objects I couldn't see them all. Morpheus fished through the box until he found what he was looking for. It was a college diploma with gilt edges and tied with a black ribbon. It was steadily pulsing with golden light, and beeping. "Oh, good. It's a Dream. Love those."

"Well, duh." I said. "You're the god of dreams."

He laughed again. "Can't deny that one."

"What do you do with them?"

"I give them to people, of course." Morpheus said. "Here it goes. I think she'll like it." He leaned over and tossed the diploma into the gate of ivory. It disappeared, and suddenly the jewels past the ivory gate twisted and changed to show a picture of a young woman grinning and holding up the diploma, surrounded by admirers.

"Okay. So you're here because I want to talk to you about-" The beeping started again. "Dammit, busy night. Just a mo." Morpheus reached into the box again, but this time pulled out a microphone pulsing with dark purple light. He winced a little. "Oh, a nightmare. Hate these, but I have to send out all the dreams that need sending." He tossed it into the gate of horns, and the image behind the gate of horns showed a boy holding a guitar step up to the microphone, and suddenly the crowd was laughing. The boy went red.

"Why would you give him such an embarrassing anxiety dream?" I asked, frowning. "That's awful. Why couldn't you give that guy a happy dream, like the first lady?"

"That's not how dreams work, daughter."

"Jamie." I said, glaring at him.

"Huh?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"My _name_ is Jamie. That's the name my _real_ dad's gave me, clear?"

"Yes. Sorry. I did have a reason for calling you here, It's important that I warn you. There is something coming. Something…. _bad._ "

"Is there any way you could be a bit more cryptic? I can almost figure out what you're saying."

"Sorry." Morpheus winced. I seemed to have hurt his feelings with the jab about my real Dad and Padre. "I can't tell you quite what it is. I don't know myself. But there are rumors that it's coming for the children of the greatest heroes alive. And that includes you, Jamie. You need to be ready."

"For _what?"_

"I told you, I don't-" The beeping started up again. "I have to take that. But just thought I ought to warn you. And remember, ever need to send a dream message or figure what's going on in someones head, the gates are open to your use. Just concentrate in a dream, and you'll be here. Then just concentrate again."

Then I was floating upward again, across the graying fields of wandering ghosts below, up through the crevice, and into the clouds above.

I sat bolt upright in bed, at home. At first I hoped that maybe my conversation with Chiron had just been a dream, too, but-I knew it wasn't.

 _The day before-_

 _I jogged up to the centaur, who was waiting for me on the pier, where nobody could hear us. "What's going on? Did I do something wrong?" I asked, worriedly._

" _You've done nothing wrong, Jane-Amelia." Chiron said, and I went bright red._

" _Please don't call me that. It's Jamie."_

" _I apologize, Jamie. You're here because I need to talk to you, about a prophecy."_

" _A who what how much?"_

" _A prophecy. They predict the future. And I fear that the latest prophecy is about you and the children of the seven."_

" _What is the prophecy?" I asked. "Are we in some sort of danger?"_

" _I'm afraid so. Perhaps you had better hear the prophecy yourself." He led me through the camp, up a hill, and to a cave. Sitting inside, praying at a small stone altar, was a woman with red hair. I guessed she was around my parents age, maybe a couple years older then them. She looked up, and she had a kind freckled face, and wore a tie over a faded blue t-shirt and jeans. At first glance, she looked like someone you might see working in an arts-and-crafts store, but there was an uncanny wisdom in her bright eyes that surprised me. "Rachel, this is Jamie. Jamie, our oracle, Rachel. Rachel, I believe Jamie was part of the new prophecy._

 _Rachel stood up, brushing off the knees of her jeans. "You're Nico and Will's daughter, right?" I nodded. Rachel gave Chiron a worried look. "Not until sixteen. That was the deal."_

" _I know, but they were attacked and their parents had no choice but to bring them here."_

" _Alright," Rachel said. "You want me to tell her the prophecy."_

" _Yes."_

" _You might want to sit down, Jamie." Rachel said, giving me a look of kindness and pity. I shook my head. And then Rachel told me the prophecy that would change my life forever._

I rubbed my eyes and rolled out of bed. Today was Saturday, and Percy had promised to take Fred, Tay, Theo, Mira, and I to Camp Half-Blood. Charles had homework-apparently he had _volunteered_ for summer school. _School._ Gods, school started in two weeks. How could I just go back to school and pretend none of this ever happened? It seemed impossible.

I dressed in my black hoodie, white tank top with a black skull stuck on a sword design on the front, red mini skirt, black leggings, and black leather boots with silver buckles. And Padre's ring, of course. And the fedora. Now that I knew Morpheus wore it, I had second thoughts about bringing it. But my jerky godly dad's fashion sense didn't mean I couldn't wear my favorite (and only) hat.

I slid down the stairs railing, which was polished from years of me sliding down it.

Dad was already in the kitchen, frying eggs sunny-side up. He always woke with the sun. He wore a purple _Camp Jupiter University Alumni_ t-shirt and jeans. Padre was, unsurprisingly, still snoring away upstairs. It usually takes Dad and I working together to pull him out of bed on the weekends.

"Morning," Dad beamed. "Percy and the others will be here soon. Breakfast?"  
"I'm good." I said. "Not really hungry." I tried to smile back, but it faltered and faded to a worried frown. Not exactly what I was going for.

"Everything okay?" Dad asked, sitting down across from me at the kitchen table. "You look worried about something."

"I just had… a nasty dream. And yesterday at camp…"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing." I shook my head and stood up. "I'm going to wait for Percy outside, okay?" He tried to argue, but I was already in the hallway, slinging my bow and the quiver of arrows on my back and closing the front door behind me.

 _Diary pages of Frederick Chase-Jackson_

Something was wrong with Jamie. I didn't know what it was, but I was determined to find out. I was still guilty about leaving her to the Nemean Lion the other day, so I figured I owed it to her to make sure she was okay. My friends were sparring with some children of Hermes in the arena, so I pulled Jamie aside while they were distracted.

"What's up?" Jamie asked. I have to admit, I find her pretty intimidating. Sharp brown eyes, goth clothes, and an air about her that says not to mess with her. Remind me never to get on her bad side.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You just seem really... worried about something."

"I'm fine," Jamie said, but she wouldn't meet my eyes. "It's nothing."

"In my experience, when people say it's "nothing", then it means its actually "really really important". C'mon, what is it?"

"I'm not sure." Jamie said, chewing the inside of her cheek. "I mean, it seems bad. But I don't really…."

"Come on." I led her out of the arena, towards the deserted dining pavilion. I picked up two of the magical crystal goblets and tossed her one. "Have a soda. Hades, it's summer vacation! Have an eggnog!" She laughed. "Seriously, if your parents ever heard that last sentence they would impale me on their swords. Just have a soda, I like my intestines where they are."

"Don't worry, wasn't planning on anything else." Janie laughed again, and I noticed how nice her smile was.

 _That's a silly thought,_ I told myself, though I wasn't sure if I believed it. I just quickly focused on making pepsi appear in my goblet.

I sat down cross-legged on top of the Poseidon table, and she sat next to me with her legs dangling over the side. She ran her fingers around the top of the crystal goblet, making a strange hollow ringing sound. "What's wrong, Jamie?"

She let out a long sigh, and the goblet filled with orange soda. "It's something I heard yesterday. A prophecy."

"How'd it go?" I asked, wondering. If a prophecy was bugging Jamie that bad, then it must be somethingcrazy important. And if she didn't want to tell me, then it must also have something to do with me or one of the others.

"It's…

" _Daughter of dreaming and children of fate,_

 _go to the darkness through the black gate._

 _To battle the monsters they fear most of all,_

 _or the same will most surely devour us all."_

"Daughter of dreaming…" I mumbled. "Chiron and this Rachel think that's you?"

She frowned into her soda. "Yeah. But that prophecy just doesn't sound good to me. And then last night I had a dream about my birth dad, Morpheus…." She told me all about her dream. "The line of the prophecy and something he said are bugging me. The gate… but I'm not sure yet. Maybe it means the gates to the Underworld, y'know? That would make sense."

"Shouldn't we tell the others about this? Or the head counselors here?" She nodded slowly.

"Yeah. Tell Chiron we're having a war meeting. And it's time for him to tell the whole camp about this new prophecy."

 **AN: I'm so proud of myself for coming up with that prophecy! Usually I suck at prophecies, but I like that one (and if you diss it I hate you. That's a joke. Mostly.). ANYway, please leave a review/follow/favorite. Later, alligator!**


	5. California or bust

**AN: I don't own PJO or HoO. Please leave a review (criticism welcomed) or favorite/follow.**

 _Diary pages of Jamie di Angelo-Solace_

The war council was held around a ping-pong table, and there was nachos and cheez-wiz for anyone who wanted it. Normally I would've loved the cheez-wiz (Dad thinks Padre and I should eat healthier, so he threw out all our delicious delicious junk food and won't let us have McDonalds anymore) but I was too nervous to eat. The other counselors didn't agree-Faith Stoll and her best friend Shawna Rodriguez are spraying cheez-wiz in each other's mouths, and the head of Aphrodite cabin-Lili Tanaka-is flirting with the head of Hephaestus cabin, Jerry Mason.

Fred, Tay, Mira, Theo, and Charles sat around nervously, glancing at the door or the other kids. Tay talked quietly to Theo, and Charles stole Nachos from the huge platters in the middle of the table. Fred sat next to me, bouncing one knee and looking around nervously. He tapped his fingers on the table, as well. For a legacy, Fred was seriously ADHD. The other kids at the table gave us weird looks-they knew our parents, I guess.

Then Chiron came back in with the last straggling counselors, and everyone quieted.

Chiron told the counselors about the new prophecy. He told them about my dream of Morpheus, and how we thought that the "black gate" probably meant the gate into the underworld. People were just starting to ask questions, when the doors burst open and Padre came storming in.

"The quest needs to go right away." Padre said, and I knew this wouldn't be good.

"Why?" An Apollo girl I didn't know asked.

"The Underworld is in chaos. Monsters are escaping Tartarus and feasting on the souls of the dead. Someone has to get down there _now_ and talk to Hades. Who's going?"

I raised my hand and waved a little.

"Okay, _not_ her." Padre said. "Anyone else?"

"Um, we don't know." Tay said. "But the Prophecy said _daughter of dreaming and children of fate._ She has to be the daughter of dreaming, there's no other children of Morpheus here at camp."

"Who are the children of fate, though?" Mira asked, and went pink when everyone looked at her. "She's not going alone. The prophecy said so."

Chiron looked uncomfortable. "I believe that the prophecy is referring to the children of the seven. They are the demigods that have been in the most important and numerous prophecies to date. Their children must be the children of fate."

"Us? We get to go on a quest? Cool!" Charles cheered. "Into the underworld! Are there zombies there?"

"Yes. They eat brains." Padre sent Charles a withering glare to silence him, and Charles hid behind Fred. I tried to give Padre a reproachful look, but he ignored it. "Which is why _Jamie_ is not going."

"None of them are!" Percy, Piper, Jason, Aunt Hazel, Calypso, and Uncle Frank burst through the doors. Percy looked murderous. "My children are not getting involved in a prophecy! Send someone else, Chiron!"

"I cannot." Chiron said, looking tired. "I had hoped to avoid this. If only they had waited until the children were sixteen, then all of this-" He suddenly seemed to realize that he was talking out loud, not just in his head, and immediately shut up. But I got the feeling that I was the only person to have heard what he said.

"Dad, it's okay," Fred tried to reassure Percy. "We're going together. We'll be fine."

"Charles can't go! He's too young!" Percy argued.

"Mira is as well." Piper said angrily.

"Jamie would get herself killed!"

"Tay isn't going to the stupid Underworld."

"We're flying back to California in a few days, Theo can't go on a quest!"

The other demigods started chattering to each other as well.

"They've only known they're legacies for, like, a day!"

"They aren't qualified for a quest."

"Why should they get to go?"

"Hey! Shut up!" I bellowed, standing up. I didn't remember standing up, or deciding to start talking, but apparently the others were freaked out enough to stop arguing and stare at me. "There is no arguing with a prophecy! I am taking these ones-" I pointed at Fred, Tay, Mira, and Theo. "To the Underworld, but I will not take Charles! We are going, and anyone who argues can go jump in the lake! Clear?"

Nobody argued.

"Right, well then…" Chiron said, clearing his throat. "I suggest that you leave early tomorrow morning. Nico, can you give them instructions to the Underworld?" Padre nodded, still looking annoyed. "You are welcome to the weapons in our stores. Faith and Shawna-" He nodded to Faith Stoll and Shawna Rodriguez. Faith was trying to hide her can of cheez-wiz behind her back, and Shawna glared at us, sizing us up. "Let them take what they'll need from the camp store. Twenty drachmas, just in case." Both girls nodded. "Everyone else, go back to your classes." The other demigods stood up and hurried out. Chiron dragged our parents away as well, talking about camp defenses and the strawberry crop.

"C'mon, then." Faith grinned at us. She had curly brown hair in a ponytail, and mischievous blue eyes. She was a few inches taller then Fred, and wore a camp half-blood t-shirt and torn jeans. There was something about her that gave me the urge to keep one hand on my wallet. "Let's get you some stuff!"

Shawna just glared at us. She had black hair and light brown eyes, and wore an old camo jacket over her own camp half-blood shirt. Finally she grumbled, "Let's just get this over with."

Faith chattered away as she led us to the camp store. In the store, there was a bunch of orange camp shirts and sleeping bags, camping supplies, snack food, flashlights, nectar and ambrosia in tiny one-dose bottles and boxes, and a shelf of books about monsters and gods.

"Here. Chiron said fifteen drachmas, right?"

"Twenty." Shawna reminded her.

"Aw, don't tell them that!" Faith pretended to moan, but she gave us the right amount of golden coins. "Take anything else you want, Chiron won't mind."

"You'll want weapons, too," Shawna said. "We'll get you those. Hephaestus cabin makes us the best."

"Could we stop by the forge really fast, too?" Tay asked hopefully. "There's something I need to get." Faith and Shawna shrugged.

Piled in one corner of the store was a bunch of backpacks. I found a black one with a skull on it in white, and took it immediately. And there wasn't a chance of it falling off while I was fighting (or running _away_ from fighting), because there was two extra straps with clasps in front. I stuffed in matches, a flashlight and extra batteries, some nectar and ambrosia, and a paperback book from the checkout counter that said, _**TOURIST GUIDE TO THE UNDERWORLD!**_. The others took stuff as well, and then Shawna and Faith led us to the weapons shed.

I still had my bow, and I wasn't letting go of it, but Shawna gave me some special arrows. I didn't know what all of them did, but there were labels on the shafts so I would know which to use. Maybe they would come in handy. Fred found a long gold sword, with a perfect leather grip and a leaf-shaped blade. Tay immediately picked up a heavy golden hammer, like the one she had taken from the Chase-Jacksons. Mira took a bronze knife, and Theo found a spear leaning against the back wall of the shed.

"I think this one's good," He said, lifting it to weigh it. "Yeah, it's perfect."

"We call that spear Archie." Shawna said. She seemed to be the expert on the weapons. "It's modeled after the Spear of Achilles, which Hephaestus gave to Peleus as a wedding present for marrying Thetis."

"Archie? Really? I'm running into the underworld to fight hordes of evil monsters with a spear named _Archie?_ "

"Good luck with that." Shawna grinned.

That night, Dad and Padre took me home. Chiron was sending a chariot and pegasi tomorrow morning, and then I would pick up the other kids. On my quest. _My quest._ That sounded so crazy. How could I lead my friends to death's gates, when I had no idea what to do? But I had to go. Who else would? And Padre had said it himself-the Underworld was in chaos.

Dinner that night was tense. I tried to eat as much as I could, knowing that this might be the last good meal I had until I got home again, but it was hard. My stomach was twisted into knots. Dad looked terrified, and jumped at the slightest sound. I knew he didn't want me to go. But Padre seemed to have resigned himself to the fact that I was going. He was always the parent that gave me more freedom, and didn't get mad when I screwed up at school or came home in the middle of the night.

"You have your bow, right? And any trick arrows you might need?" Padre asked. I nodded. "And ambrosia and nectar in case someone gets injured?" I nodded again.

After dinner, when Dad volunteered to the dishes, Padre stopped me before I could go upstairs to my room. "I need to give you something." He led me up to the attic. There was a bunch of cardboard boxes, baby furniture from when I was younger, and a stack of my paintings leaning against the wall. Padre led me to a large oak dresser on its side at the back of the attic. He opened the top drawer and rummaged through all the old junk inside.

Padre pulled out a dagger, a six-inch blade, with a leather sheath. The handle was silver, with a leather grip, but carved into the silver hilt was the fancy letter _J_. Padre pulled the dagger out of the leather sheath, and showed the blade. It was shiny black metal, and it sent shivers up my spine. It almost absorbed the darkness, like it gave it power.

"Don't tell your dad about this, but…." Padre offers me the dagger nervously. "It's a shard from my old sword. When I proposed to Will, he said he would only marry me if I didn't keep weapons in the house. But I didn't want to give the sword to anyone else, so I shattered it. But I kept this shard, just in case. And when we adopted you, I had it made into a dagger. For you. I was going to give it to you when you were old enough, but… you need it now."

I stared at the dark blade. It was beautiful-it looked dangerous and powerful, and just holding it made me feel stronger. "Thanks." I said.

"Yeah. Try not to die, Jabberwock." I rolled my eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll use the others as shields if anyone tries to stab me." We both grinned.

"Good luck." Padre said, handing me the sheath. I pressed it down the blade, and the dark power that the metal gave me faded again. I hid the dagger in my hoodie pocket so I didn't get Padre in trouble with Dad.

I woke up early the next morning. It took me almost a half-hour to decide what to wear-I wasn't really sure what the weather was in the Underworld. I settled on my black hoodie, torn acid-washed jeans, my leather boots, and a black t-shirt with _I see dead people_ on it in white with drips coming from the letters. And my skull ring, plus fedora. I figured that up-playing my connection to Hades might make him like us more when we got to the Underworld.

I folded a few changes of clothes and tucked them in my backpack, which was now stuffed so full I couldn't bring anything else. Except for the water bottle that I shoved in the side pocket.

"Morning, Jabberwock." Padre said, poking his head around my bedroom door. "Ready to go?" I shouldered my backpack and nodded. He didn't smile either.

We walked downstairs in silence. Dad gave me a bear-hug and a weak smile. "You'll do great, Jamie." He assured me. "The chariot is waiting outside." He handed me a piece of toast and herded me outside. "Good luck. And dress warmly in the Underworld. And don't eat any unusual plants. And don't-"

"Dad-" I said, holding up a hand to silence him. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Be back in a few days." I offered a big smile, and even though it felt painfully fake, it seemed to reassure Dad. Padre knew better, but he also knew I would brain him with my bow if he made Dad worry on my account. He kept his mouth shut.

The chariot was nice. And when I say nice, I mean _awesome._ It was large enough for all of us going on the quest to stand comfortably, and made of beautiful dark wood. There were designs in gold and bronze on the sides, showing heroes killing monsters and gods sitting on thrones. The two horses reigned to the chariot were strong-looking and beautiful. The one on the left was cinnamon-colored with a dark brown mane and white spots, and the one on the right was dark brown with a beautiful black mane. The cinnamon pegasi had deep brown eyes like chocolate.

"Jeez…" I stared at the chariot. "They just had that thing lying around?"

"Hephaestus and Apollo cabin have been working on it." Will said proudly. "They thought it would come in handy, and now it will."

I walked up to the pegasi nervously, and rubbed the cinnamon-colored horse's nose. It's harness had a small golden plaque on it, with _**Angel Eyes**_ painted on it. The darker horse's name was _**Caramel**_.

"They give you guys the nuttiest names." I mumbled to the horse, climbing onto the chariot. I held the reins, even though I had little or no idea how to fly a chariot. Luckily, the pegasi seemed to know what I wanted. They lifted off, pulling the chariot behind them. I waved to Dad and Padre on the front lawn, wondering what the neighbors were seeing. A tiny hot air balloon? Rocket-powered hang glider?

The pegasi flew upward into the sky, and I loved the feeling of the wind whipping my braid back. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was flying on my own, with no pegasi or chariot having to hold me up. Too soon we were landing in front of the Chase-Jackson house, and I had to return to reality.

Fred, Charles, and their parents were on the front lawn. Annabeth and Percy both looked miserable, but Fred looked determined. When he tried to get on the Chariot, Charles clung to his legs and wouldn't let him go. It took Percy and Annabeth together to pull him off. Fred waved to his brother and parents as the pegasi flew off.

Fred wore jeans and sneakers and a blue t-shirt and gray hoodie. I don't think he even realized that he was wearing the colors of his godly parents-blue and gray. His sword was strapped to his belt, and he had his own backpack slung over one shoulder. His sea-green eyes were nervous, so I tried to cheer him up by telling him about the horse's sappy names. He smiled, but he still looked worried.

"Don't worry, man." I said. "We'll be fine. We go to the Underworld. Padre told me that the entrance to the Underworld is in LA, so we go there. Pegasi are supposed to be extremely fast, so that won't take long. Then we just have to check in with Hades, and he'll tell us what we have to do next. It'll be fine."

"Yeah," He said, not looking convinced. His blond hair was rumpled from the wind, and his normally cheerful and handsome face was creased with worry. I left him to his thoughts.

The next stop was the hotel where Theo, Aunt Hazel, and Uncle Frank were staying. They were waiting on the roof. Uncle Frank handed Theo his teddy-bear backpack (I will never understand why he likes that thing so much), and Theo hugged his parents goodbye one last time before he climbed onto the chariot. "Hey, Ted." Fred said, and Theo nodded to him. He looked like he was going to puke if he said anything. "What's up?" Theo shrugged. He held his spear tightly in one hand.

Tay was the only one of us so far that seemed really excited. She had a huge grin on her face as she hugged her mother and high-fived her father, who was beaming proudly. Calypso looked worried, but Leo just seemed proud. Tay wore a brown leather jacket, a white tank top, a black mini skirt and pink leggings, and pink-and-white converse. She wore a leather messenger bag with bronze buckles, and had her hammer tied to the bag itself so that it hung at her hip. She grinned at us as she leaned against the side of the chariot.

"C'mon guys, lets get cracking!" She grinned. "We just have to get Mira and then we can split!"

"How are you so calm about this?" Fred asked. "The rest of us are having panic attacks."

"This is exciting!" Tay said, like it was obvious. "We're going to the Underworld, guys. We're meeting the god of the dead. And best of all- _we're going to LA!_ Why is this not exciting?" We gave her incredulous looks. "I'm the only one feeling this? Fine, be boring."

Tay sank into a pretend sulk for the next hour, until we landed in front of the Grace's two story manor house. It was painted pale green, and there was a white wraparound porch. A dozen oak trees peppered the lawn, and a tire swing dangled from one of the thicker branches of a tree by the porch. I didn't know how the Grace's had made their fortune-but I did know that Piper hadn't wanted the house. She, Jason, and Mira had been in an apartment until Piper's dad moved in with them and insisted that they move to a larger house. I had only visited the house a few times before, but Mira never looked particularly comfortable there. Like she would rather still be living in the apartment.

Jason and Piper were standing on either side of Mira, on the front porch. When we landed they led her forward. Mira wore jeans, a faded pink t-shirt, and black flats. Her pink and black backpack was slung over one shoulder, and her brown hair was tied in a ponytail, poking through the back of a dark blue NASA baseball cap. I think that's where Jason worked-studying the atmosphere or something. She didn't look scared like Theo, or excited like Tay, just a kind of grim calm. I had never seen her this determined-looking. The knife was strapped to her belt.

"Hey, Mira." Tay said, smiling. "Ready to go?" Mira nodded.

"Bye mom, bye dad." Jason and Piper hugged their daughter, and watched in silence as she climbed onto the chariot. "I'll be back in a few days."

"See you soon, honey." Piper said, voice shaking a little. Jason smiled to Mira with a hand raised in a half-hearted wave. "We'll tell Grandpa you're camping with friends, like we talked about." Mira nodded, and knowing that making them drag out the goodbye wouldn't help, I tugged lightly on the reins. Angel Eyes and Caramel flapped their wings, and lifted the chariot off the ground. Mira shouted one last goodbye as we flew into the sky.

Now we were all there. "Okay, guys. Padre said that the only remaining entrance to the Underworld is through LA. Hades sealed off all the others years ago, something about not wanting too many demigods getting into his realm anymore."

"Well, at least we can expect a welcome wagon." Fred muttered.

"That's the spirit!" Tay laughed, slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"Once we get to LA, we find the entrance to the Underworld. Head down there, and talk to Hades at his palace. He can tell us what's going on, and what we need to do to stop it. Padre said that monsters are escaping Tartarus and eating the souls, right?"

"Eating is the same as devouring." Theo muttered. It was the first thing he'd said since we'd picked him up at the hotel.

"Huh?" Fred asked.

"The prophecy. The last two lines; _to battle the monsters they fear most of all, or he same will most surely devour us all._ The monsters in the Underworld. We have to fight them, or when we die our souls will be… _devoured._ All of us." He let that sink in.

"Thank you for that, Theo." I said, glaring at my cousin. He went pink. "You should become a motivational speaker, seriously. But you may be right. That could be what the lines from the prophecy mean. But Hades will be able to tell us in more detail what's going on, and maybe have some idea of what we have to do to save the dead."

"Great," Tay said. "This won't be so hard, will it?"

"See, now you've _said_ that-"

"Knock on wood!" Fred yelled, banging his hands on the sides of the chariot.

"You're such a… such a…" I tried to think of a good insult. Hey, Fred's a grandson of Poseidon. "Barnacle Brain!"

 **AN: thanks for reading, please review/follow/favorite. I don't own PJO or HoO.**


	6. Dead on arrival

**AN: I don't own PJO or HoO. Please leave a review/follow/favorite. Sorry it's been so long since I have updated this story, I've been working on my other ones. I will try to update faster, but I'm not sure I'll manage it.**

 _Diary pages of Miracle Grace_

I had been to Los Angeles before. My mom and dad had taken me here once during the summer, but this time was different. Every street and building felt important, but also kind of scary, like there could be a monster hidden in every one, waiting for the chance to jump out and kill us.

It would have been worse if I was there alone. The others were really good fighters-Jamie and Fred especially. And Theo wanted to be a doctor… so if a monster really did show up, I probably wouldn't die. Or maybe I would just find a place to hide until it had eaten all my friends and was all filled up on demigods.

"It's supposed to be in DOA recording studios." Jamie said, glaring at a map of the city. She turned it on its side and frowned at it. I don't think she even knew if she was holding it right side up. "But I can't find it on this thing."

"You're holding it upside down." I said quietly, taking it from her and turning it the proper way. I scanned the map, looking for DOA written on it anywhere.

"What does DOA stand for?" Fred asked curiously.

"Um… Dead On Arrival, I think." Jamie shrugged.

"That is a terrible name for a recording studio." Tay said. Theo nodded, but he was too busy feeding the pegasi sugarcubes to help with the map.

We were standing on the roof of a store (I think it was called Crusty's something, and sold water beds) with the pegasi and chariot, trying to figure out where we were supposed to go. We would fly there, and then were supposed to let the pegasi fly the chariot back to Long Island and Camp Half-Blood.

"It's weird to be so close to home," Theo said, eyes scanning the LA skyline. "But not really going there."

"Yeah, you live in California, right? In San Francisco?" Tay asked, and Theo nodded. It felt like lifetimes ago that Jamie and I had joked about the Zhang's living in California, at her parent's party. It was hard to believe that was only a week ago.

"I don't see it on this map." Jamie said, looking over my shoulder. "Maybe it's too dated."

"I think the entrance to the Underworld has been around for a while." Tay pointed out.

"Maybe Jamie is right," Fred said. "Why would they put the entrance to the Underworld on a mortal map?" It sounded weird to call them mortals-like we weren't.

"We could just walk around and see if we find it." Tay suggested.

"I don't think we're super likely to find one studio in this city." Theo said. "It's a needle in a haystack."

"It's not as big as New York City." Tay pointed out. "I'm sure it wouldn't be that hard. Besides, I want off this roof."

I found DOA recording studios on the map. "Guys," I said, trying to get the older kids attention, but none of them were listening. Even Jamie had lost interest in the map. I guess you can't blame them-most of them are ADHD.

"Let's fly off the roof and walk around." Fred said. "Better then standing here."

"Guys." I said, louder. Nobody heard.

"I'm telling you, we'll never find it that way." Theo said.

"But I'm getting hungry!" Fred moaned.

"Guys." I said, even louder, but now Jamie was laughing at Fred.

"You're always hungry, Barnacle Brain!"

"Guys!" I yelled, and this time they heard me. "I found it!" They all crowded around the map, and I pointed to DOA recording studios. "It's not that far from here. I think we can walk it-we should probably send away Angel Eyes and Caramel now."

"Can they really find their way back to camp on their own?" Jamie asked, eyeing the pegasi suspiciously. Caramel whinnied, sounding annoyed.

"She says that they always know the way home." Fred said.

Everybody stared at him.

"Dude," Jamie said, dark eyes wide. "You understood that?"

"Um…." Fred glanced between each of us in turn. "You didn't?"

"I don't even want to know how you did that." Theo shook his head. "That's just weird, man. Talking to horses. Flat-out weird."

"I just kind of understood…." Fred trailed off, looking embarrassed.

I felt a little bad for him, and it looked like Jamie did too. "That's really cool, Fred." Jamie said encouragingly. It was odd-she wasn't nice to many people, but Fred was one of them. So was I, I guess, and her dads. "Can they understand us?"

Angel Eyes whinnied. Fred nodded. "Angel Eyes says it's easy for horses to get what people say." He turned to the pegasi. "We're going to walk to DOA. You guys good for the flight back home?" Both horses seemed to nod, then flapped their wings and took off into the sky. I tried really hard not to stare at Fred.

Jamie took back the map and stuffed it in her backpack. "Come on, take the stairs off the roof." She led us through a service door, down the stairs, past a sleeping security guard, and out of the building.

DOA recording studios was a small building with no windows and only one big door. On a large sign hanging on the door was the words **DOA RECORDING STUDIO**. "This place is creepy." Tay frowned at it. "Are you sure this is it?"

"It must be." Jamie said. She shook her head, as if brushing aside that concern, and pushed open the door of the studios. "Come on."

Before we could go in, there was a tinkling laugh behind us. We turned.

A tall curvy woman stood behind there. She had soft wavy blond hair that tumbled down over her shoulders, a round face and rosy cheeks, big blue eyes and a perfect straight nose. She was beautiful-almost too beautiful. It was frightening. She wore a floaty white shirt with a golden clasp on one shoulder, and dark green skinny jeans and black flats. Her lips were ruby red, her teeth were perfect white, and her eyebrows were perfectly arched.

"Hello, children." She said, and her voice was perfectly kind and happy. "You don't want to go in there, do you?" Her voice was so kind and charming, I wanted to follow her every command. "You look so hungry, come along with me."

"I am pretty hungry…" Fred said, staring at her as if he had never seen anyone like her. Which he hadn't, actually.

"Wait." I said. I pressed my hands against my head. Her voice… it was so familiar. The way her words convinced you… it reminded me of my mom when I did something wrong. But I couldn't listen-this woman was a stranger. And we had to go to the Underworld. "Who are you?"

"I am Lamia." The woman smiled at me. "Don't worry, Miracle, I won't hurt you." There's something wrong about her teeth-something wrong with her whole face. She turns and starts walking away, and my friends all follow her, even the usually suspicious Jamie.

But how did she know my name?  
"Guys, no!" I yelled, panicking. I grabbed Tay's arm and yanked her back. The others all turned, frowning and looking confused.

"What do you mean, no?" Fred asked. He rubbed his eyes with one hand, like he was struggling to focus.

"Don't trust her!" I insisted. I remembered Lamia now, from her myth. She was a queen that was also Zeus's girlfriend, right? "She's evil!" She probably was.

Lamia smiled and shook her head. There was definitely something wrong with her teeth. They were almost… fangs. "I am not evil, Miracle Grace. You trust me, don't you, Frederick Chase-Jackson? I would never hurt children. Unlike that villain Zeus." She glared at the sky.

"What do you mean Zeus is a villain?" Tay asked, face glazed over. She was definitely under Lamia's spell. "What did he do?"

"He let Hera steal my children!" She said, and for a moment her eyes turned red. "She stole them away in the night and I never saw them again. But no matter. That's why I want to help you children… you so remind me of my own."

"That's terrible." Theo said dreamily. "Poor Lamia."

"Don't pity me, Theodore Zhang, help me. Become my new children."

"No!" I screamed, kicking Theo in the shins. He hardly seemed to notice. If my older, stronger friends couldn't fight Lamia… I would have to do it myself. I pulled the knife out of my belt and waved it in Lamia's face. She hissed, baring her sharp teeth.

"What are you doing, Mira?" Jamie asked, grabbing my arm. "Don't hurt Lamia. She's our new mother." Then a shadow crossed my friends face. "Wait, mother? I don't have a…. I've never had a…."

"She is not your mother." I said, snapping my fingers in Fred's face and holding my knife at Lamia's neck. "She is evil." I struggled to remember Lamia's full myth… something about her children, alright. "We have to fight her."

"Oh, this is foolish." Lamia hissed, and a forked tongue flickered out from her teeth. "Granddaughter of Aphrodite, I should have known. Silence, and _die!_ "

Lamia went through a strange transformation. Her legs stuck together and changed into a long serpentine tail covered in slimy green scales. Her beautiful face changed to a hideous mask of rage, and she grew at least two feet taller. My friends blinked or shook their heads, freed from the spell. What was it called? Charmtalk? Charmchat? Something like that.

"Guys, we have to fight her!" I swiped at the serpent tail with my knife, but the Lamia laughed and backhanded me with the end of the tail. I slammed against the side of the DOA building.

"Mira?" Jamie asked, looking confused. "Whats…"

"I am Lamia!" Lamia screamed. "The demon of Zeus! And I shall feast on children once again!" Then it clicked. Lamia had dated Zeus, which had angered Hera. Zeus had let Hera take Lamia's children to make it up to her, and Lamia had gone mad. She been cursed by Zeus and turned into a serpent, who devoured children in rage. But she still had charmsomething from her time as a queen of Libya.

That snapped my friends out of it. "Holy _, what is that?" Fred yelled, drawing his sword and stumbling back.

"Oh my gods!" Tay gasped, unclipping the hammer from her bag and holding it in front of her like a shield. "Lamia's a lizard thing!"

"I am not a lizard thing!" Lamia hissed. Her tail lashed at Tay, but Fred slashed her tail with his sword. I struggled to get up, but my head was swimming. I blinked as my vision blurred.

"Stand back!" Jamie drew her bow. An arrow hit Lamia's arm, and she screamed in rage and pain. Jamie pulled out an arrow painted white, and it hit Lamia in the chest. Instead of shooting her like a normal arrow, there was a flash of light, electrocuting Lamia. She screamed and burst into dust. "Everyone okay?"

"Mira's not." Theo crouched next to me, pulling off his teddybear backpack and rooting through it. I saw the rest of my friends around me, looking worried. I tried to sit up, but my head pounded. I must have cracked it against the wall when Lamia hit me.

Theo pulled out a package of nectar and tore it open. He put a small square in my mouth because I couldn't see straight. "Eat that, Mira. You might have a concussion, and we have to hope that the ambrosia will help with any internal injuries possibly caused when you hit the wall, so-"

"Shut up." Jamie hit Theo on the shoulder, and he clamped his mouth shut.

The ambrosia tasted like the chili Grandpa Tristan made on holidays-perfectly spicy and delicious. I wanted more, but I knew that it was dangerous to eat too much ambrosia. I immediately felt better-my vision sharpened again and my head stopped pounding.

"Better?" Theo asked, offering me a hand up. I nodded, took it, and stood up. I felt fine now. "Good. C'mon, let's get going."

 **AN: thanks for reading! Please leave a review/follow/favorite**


	7. Ghostbusters

**AN: I don't own PJO or HoO. Sorry that it's been awhile since I've updated, I've been busy. Please review or favorite/follow! And don't forget to tell all your friends!**

 _Diary pages of Jamie di Angelo-Solace_

The waiting room of DOA recording studios gave me the creeps. Hard plastic chairs sat along the walls, and in each one was a ghost. They all hovered a bit above their chairs, looking melancholy. A few murmured to each other, or would stand up and wander around for a bit before sitting back down, looking confused. But something about them seemed wrong-like they were afraid of something. They glanced at the elevator door at the end of the room like they were scared some terrible monster was about to burst out of it.

Sitting at a desk on the other end of the room was a large man in an Italian suit.

Mira, who was still looking a little queasy, silently moved closer to Theo and I. She scanned the ghosts, eyes wide. Theo's hand tightened on his spear, and Fred looked uneasy. As for me, I was just hoping the guy in the suit wasn't who I thought he was.

When my dads told me about the Greek myths, Padre always spun tales about Charon, the incompetent and greedy guard of the Underworld. Dad would roll his eyes and smile, and Padre would cackle about Italian suits and easy listening channels. And in the tourist's guide to the Underworld I had taken from the camp store, it had said that Charon kept souls who "couldn't pay" out of the Underworld. Whatever that meant.

"Mr. Charon?" I asked, striding forward ahead of my friends. I was the leader of this quest; I had to take charge. "You are Charon, aren't you?"

"My name is not-oh. You said it right. That's never happened before." The man said, going from annoyed to confused in less then three seconds. "Yes, I am Charon."

"My name is Jamie. I'm on a quest to help Hades. You need to let my friends and I into the Underworld."

Charon sized me up. "Why should I? Can you pay?"

I glanced at the others. We had money, but I didn't like this guy. I wasn't about to give him anything. I had a better idea.

I pulled the Stygian Dagger out from my hoodie pocket and unsheathed it, holding the blade at Charon's throat. "I think you had better let us in."

"I'd do as she says." Fred advised, appearing next to me. "She's wanted for murder in several states!"

"And she's an arsonist!" Tay chirped, catching on.

"Totally insane!" Theo added helpfully.

"You know she's nuts-I mean look at her clothes!" Fred finished.

I glared at him, knowing cheeks were turning a little red. "What's wrong with my clothes?"

"Nothing, I mean-" Fred spluttered, turning red, too.

"Hey!" Charon rumbled. Fred and I jumped and turned back to him. "What's wrong with kids these days? Can't even threaten people properly."

"Just let us in, _baldy_." I hissed, tightening my grip on the dagger. "Or I'll ruin that fancy suit of yours!"

"Not the suit!" Charon whimpered. "Go ahead. I've got a full load anyways. And the Underworld _could_ use some aid lately. In, in." He pointed to the door of the elevator, and we went in. He followed us into the cramped elevator (which was already partially full of sad-looking ghosts) and closed the door behind us.

The elevator trundled down for what felt like forever, and terrible music played from the ceiling. I shifted uncomfortably. Fred offered a smile, but I glared at him and fixed my eyes on the door of the elevator.

"You've succeeded in pissing her off." Theo mumbled. "Congrats."

"Hush, you two." Tay swatted both boys on their shoulders. She glanced at their ghosts. "Be respectful of the dead. This is a one-way ticket for them."

"It may be for you as well." Charon leered. His face sent shivers up my spine.

I was glad when the elevator door finally opened and we stepped out into the Underworld.

It was just as I had seen in my dream when I had spoken to Morpheus. Far to the left was Elysium, glowing and emitting warm light. Down the middle was Asphodel, packed with wandering ghosts. And to the right was the fires of the fields of Punishment.

But there was something different about it. Red acidic clouds gathered over the hordes of ghosts. The light of Elysium was dimmed, and there was a tension in the air that made me instantly anxious.

Then I saw why; there were monsters. Hordes of them. I spotted drakons, chimeras, hydras, gorgons, the minotaur, the sphinx, the Nemean lion, and others. Ghosts gave them a wide berth. As I watched, one of hydra's heads lunged for the spirit of an old man and devoured it. The man's ghost exploded in gray mist and was gone.

"Oh my gods." Tay murmured. "Did you guys see that?"

"Yeah." Theo nodded. "We have to talk to Hades."

Charon shoved the ghosts towards the three lines: two EZ death lines, and another that led to a gold platform with a panel of judges sitting around it.

"Which one do we take?" Fred asked.

As I was currently ignoring him, I just pointed to EZ death. "That's moving fastest."

"Um… guys?" Mira looked worried about something. "Isn't there supposed to be a big dog guarding the Underworld? Cerebus, I think?"

"Hey, you're right." Theo said, suddenly looking nervous. "Where is he?"

"Oh, he's not here." Charon said, stepping back into his elevator. I jumped. I had thought he was already gone. "Hades has him guarding Elysium, now. Doesn't want those… _urchins_ muddying up the place." He sneered at the monsters roaming Asphodel. "Now get going. And if Hades asked, you threatened my life not my suit."

Then he closed the door of the elevator and left us alone.

"Okay." Tay said. "Anyone else getting bad vibes from this?"

"No, Tay," I rolled my eyes, my voice dripping with sarcasm. "It's just you."

We walked to the EZ death line and pushed through the ranks of ghosts. We ducked around the metal detector and hurried into Asphodel. The ghosts avoided us, but I think they could sense the stygian iron dagger in my pocket. We walked easily past the spirits of the dead. A couple glanced at us, but none of them seemed to be able to concentrate. Like they had forgotten their time among the living.

I shuddered. I never wanted to forget my life-that was terrible. I felt bad for the wandering spirits around us. They couldn't even fight back against the monsters that were devouring them like potato chips.

Fred had noticed the shudder. "You okay?"

He gave me a pout with his big green eyes, and it was hard to stay mad at him. Somehow, though, I still managed it.

"I'm _fine._ " I snapped, speeding up.

"I'm sorry for what I said," Fred said, easily matching my pace. "I didn't mean it."

"Oh, really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah. You look… I mean…." Fred turned red. "You look nice."

I turned red as well. "Thanks."

Behind us, Theo pretended to gag and Mira stifled giggles. Tay, surprisingly, looked furious. I didn't understand why, but Fred hadn't even noticed. We fell into silence as we skirted around another clump of monsters.

Finally the palace of Hades seemed to be growing closer. I realized that I might run into my dad, Morpheus, in real life here. I would at least get to see the beautiful arches of Horn and Ivory again. I was surprised that I was looking forward to it. And I wanted to try sending a dream, the way Morpheus had told me I could, but I knew there was no time. The dead needed help, and soon.

"We're almost there." Tay sighed.

We all tried to shush her, but among the silence of the dead her sigh sounded loud.

"Demigods!" Something behind us screeched. "Get them!" It was part metal part goat part flaming cheerleader lady, and made me want to puke. I had my bow in my hand in a moment, but then I saw the crowd of other monsters surging forward as well.

"We can't take them!" Mira said, looking like she was trying not to panic.

"Anyone have a plan?" Fred asked hopefully, drawing his sword.

"I have one." Theo nodded. "RUN!"

And then we ran.

We ran as fast as we could for Hades's palace, a small army of monsters on our heels. We shoved past ghosts and dodged around other monsters heading towards us. Fred slashed the wing of a Harpy that swooped down towards Mira. I shot a boar-like creature that was charging towards us from the direction of the palace. Tay smashed a hydra's head in the face.

The palace was getting closer, but the monsters were gaining. We dove through past the portcullis and into the gardens, the black gate lowering behind us.

For one beautiful moment I thought we were safe. Then Theo yelled, "Where's Mira?"

She had tripped almost twenty yards back, and sprawled on the ground. She scrambled to her feet and was making a bolt for the doors, but she winced with every step. I was already running back towards the lowering portcullis.

"No!" Fred shouted. He shoved me back and rolled under the portcullis just before it closed, leaping to his feet again. I stared from my position on my butt in the dirt as he raced towards Mira. He nearly ran into her, and had her piggy-back style on his back in a moment. He was coming back towards us, but the monsters were close on his heels.

"Run, Fred!" Tay screamed.

"Come on, man!" Theo yelled.

I drew my bow and balanced on my knees. My arrows flew through the gaps in the metal portcullis and made two monsters explode in golden dust.

Mira was shouting something as Fred ran. "The portcullis! Raise the portcullis!"

I realized what she was saying. With the portcullis down, they would be caught on the palace doorstep. Tay and Theo scrambled towards a large wooden wheel built into the obsidian wall that surrounded the garden. They turned it desperately while I shot arrow after arrow towards the monsters on my friends heels. Fred was starting to slow down, looking exhausted.

"Frederick Chase-Jackson, don't you dare die!" I screamed, surprised at how raw my voice sounded. Fred's eyes fixed on me, and he put on one last burst of speed. He and Mira dove under the portcullis, which Tay and Theo quickly started trying to lower.

The monsters had only been ten feet behind them, and slammed into the black metal just as it closed. They yelled in fury and frustration, but they weren't getting in.

"Yes!" Tay cheered. She stuck her tongue out at the furious monsters. "Take that, uglies! We rule! Yeah!" She high-fived Mira and Theo, but Fred and I were busy staring at each other.

"Nice job, Barnacle Brain." I muttered. Then I remembered that I was mad at him for shoving me. "But what was _that_ about? Why did you shove me? I can do anything a guy can do!"

Fred looked embarrassed. "It was dangerous… and I know you can. And Mira is fine. And I am very very sorry and please don't shoot me."

I wanted to be mad, but he had saved Mira, who was practically my little sister. I grumbled for a minute, then finally snapped, "Fine. Thanks. Whatever."

"Can we get going?" Tay asked, looking annoyed again. Why, when just a moment before she had been whooping it up? I would never understand Tay-we were polar opposites. "Not that your flourishing romance isn't adorable, but-"

"Hey!" Fred and I yelled at the same time. Then both went red.

Theo laughed and grabbed my arm to pull me up. "Can I be best man for the wedding?"

"I want to be flowergirl!" Mira giggled.

"What color frosting do you want on the cake?"

"Ooh, can there be dancing?"

I refused to look at Fred. Normally I wouldn't found some way to shut my friends up, but teasing Fred and I (who were _just friends_ , thank you) seemed to be cheering them up. Mira had to lean on Tay a little as we walked through the ghostly garden to the palace, but otherwise everyone seemed fine. And Tay, who looked just as annoyed by Theo and Mira's jokes as Fred and I were.

But we were alive. And that's good enough for me.

 **AN: thanks for reading! I want thoughts on the Jamie/Fred pairing that I'm thinking about. What would their ship name be? Suggestions welcome! Please leave them in the reviews, and don't forget to favorite/follow.**


	8. The lord of the dead

**AN: sorry it's been awhile since I've updated this story! I've been working on my other stories (I have a lot). Anyway, thanks for sticking with me. Please review or follow/favorite if you haven't already… and if you already have, then do again!**

 _Diary pages of Jamie di Angelo-Solace_

Hades's palace was huge and grand. It was like a goth Olympus, and was just how I had seen it in my dream when I had talked to Morpheus. It was a huge obsidian palace, with jagged towers and parapets topped with blood red flags. The ghostly garden was full of milky-white plants and pomegranates on the trees.

We walked to the front doors of the palace, which were huge and made of dark wood. They were flanked by two skeletons holding machine guns.

"Um, hi," I said to the skeletons. My voice squeaked a little, and I quickly tried to sound like I was giving orders. "I am a granddaughter of Hades, and I demand that you let me in to see Lord Hades! Or I'll have you… um, court marshaled!"

The skeletons both turned and grabbed one door, pulling them wide open for us to walk in easily.

"Nice work," Theo sounded impressed.

"Thanks." I muttered.

We walked through the huge doors, which were closed behind us with an ominous _thoom._ The hallway beyond was long and lined with pillars, as well as more skeletons holding guns, spears, swords, and even flamethrowers (I seriously wanted to steal one). Tapestries hung on the wall, with images of war and death on them. The floor was a complicated mosaic of rubies and obsidian. At the other end of the hallway was another pair of (slightly smaller) dark wooden doors.

The skeletons at that end of the hall opened the doors and saluted to me.

I glanced at the others. Theo looked nervous but curious, Mira looked a little ill, Tay looked intrigued, and Fred just looked determined. He nodded to me, but didn't move. Letting me lead the way. I marched forward, and they followed me through the large doors and into the throne room.

The throne room was beautiful-there's no other word for it. Beautiful, but frightening. It was huge, and the floor was a mosaic of rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and flashing obsidian. The walls were made of black granite, and were hung with tapestries showing fire and darkness. Skeletons stood at the walls. Tall windows of stained glass showed more scenes of darkness and death-a man in a black cloak holding a sythe, an old woman falling into darkness, a young child bowing before a skeleton, soldiers on the battlefield being forced back, a woman with burning clothes kneeling and holding bony arms up to the sky in prayer.

I tried not to be too creeped out. Or to run screaming.

A huge chandelier of black diamonds and iron hung overhead, sending shadows across the room. At the other end was a dais with two thrones on it. One was made of wrought iron, and had skulls set into the back of the chair. The second throne was made of mother of pearl and gold, and the back of the throne had a symbol of a flower made out of rubies.

Most impressive was the people on the thrones.

In the black throne was a tall thin man with a regal handsome face. He had pale white skin and black hair that hung to his shoulders. His eyes were like frozen tar, and the wild look in them was that of either a genius or a madman. He wore a trim black suit with what looked like people's screaming souls trapped in it, a white shirt, and a black tie. Frost crept across his throne, and the entire room was a little chilly. Gray mist slithered across the floor. Hades.

The woman in the pearl throne was tall and haughtily beautiful-she had long auburn curls that tumbled down around her shoulders, pale skin, and ruby red lips. She wore a flowing white greek dress with an obsidian belt, and was barefoot. She held a rose in one hand, twirling the stem between her fingers and looking bored. Hades's wife, Persephone. Whenever Padre told me about her, he would make a face. Now I understood why-she glanced at me like I was mud on her shoes.

I knew enough to bow to them, but that didn't mean I liked it. The others followed suit.

"Rise, demigods," Hades called, his voice cold and calculating. Padre had never talked about him as a malevolent god, but rather as someone who was mistrusted for no good reason and shoved aside. I could see why he might be mistrusted, but this was Padre's father. I would try to see things his way. "Have you come to aid with our… problem?"

"Yeah. Camp sent us to help you with your pest problem. But the field of Asphodel is swarmed, I'm not sure how much we can do." I admitted, walking closer to the thrones so they could hear me better.

Hades nodded, not really listening. "You are my granddaughter? My son Nico's child?"

I nodded. "That's me. Call me Jamie."

Persephone snorted. "What kind of a name is Jamie?"

Hades shot her a glare, but I responded before he could. "Lady, I'm trying to be nice. I didn't even mention the unhealthy pomegranate obsession!" I pretended to hold one hand over my mouth like I was embarrassed. "Oh, wait, I mentioned it! My bad!"

"Do you have a death wish?" Fred hissed, his hand brushing the hilt of his sword like he was ready for a fight.

Persephone looked like she was about to blow a fuse. But Hades didn't seem bothered at all. I can't say he liked me any better, but that was to be expected.

"I can say this for you. You're either very foolish or very brave. And you're definitely your father's' daughter."

"Husband, this _demigod_ just-"

"Persephone." Hades interrupted. "Would you mind giving me a moment alone with my granddaughter and her friends?" Persephone glared at him, but finally nodded. "Thank you. Just a few minutes will suffice."

Persephone wafted out of the room haughtily. Once she was gone, Hades turned back to us.

"I apologize. My wife is not fond of my children, and by extension grandchildren." Hades explained, and I just nodded. "Is my grandson Theodore with you?"

Theo stepped out from behind Fred (where he had been hiding) and waved at Hades. For a moment, Hades flickered to a man in obsidian armor with a long red cape. Like Thor, from my favorite movie. Then he flickered back to a man in a suit.

"It is good to see you both." Hades's voice was still cold, but he also sounded honest. "Who else has come?"  
"I'm Frederick Chase-Jackson, sir." Fred said nervously. "I think you know my parents, Percy and Annabeth Chase-Jackson?"

Hades nodded. "We've met." He didn't sound happy about it.

"I'm Taygene Valdez. Everyone calls me Tay. My parents are Leo Valdez and Calypso."

"Mira Grace." Mira said simply, though in her defense she had gotten injured twice today already-twisting her ankle running from monsters and getting thrown against the wall by Lamia.

"I thank you all for coming to our aid. Though as you had already observed, Jamie, it is not possible for you to simply destroy all the monsters that are already in my realm. But I believe there is a faster, safer way."

I nodded, waiting for this great idea of his.

"Should the connection between Tartarus and the Underworld be destroyed, the monsters would no longer be able to enter my realm. There is no way to keep them from escaping to the mortal world, but we might be able to prevent them entering my realm."

"How would we do that?" Theo asked curiously.

"By blowing it up." Hades said, and for a moment I thought he was kidding. "By entering Morpheus's realm, the entrance being in my wife's garden, you might find him and request a bomb from one of his nightmares. However," Hades looked at us gravely. "The journey would be perilous. To find a nightmare, you would have to search your own darkest fears and fondest dreams. Both are dangerous."

"Why are our dreams dangerous?" Fred snorted. Hades glared at him.

"Because you might become taken with the dream. You might chose to stay behind, and be lost forever."  
Fred gulped.

"Persephone may be willing to lead you to the gates of horn and ivory-" Hades started to say.

"No need. I know where they are. I saw them in a dream."

"Very well." Hades nodded, and raised a hand. The skeletons closest to the door of the throne room opened the doors for us again. I waved to Hades with a friendly smile before we left. He looked extremely surprised.

I wasn't sure I liked Hades. I wasn't sure if I should. But I knew he was my grandfather, and if I could I would keep my relationship with the godly side of my family as good as possible. Besides, he didn't seem so bad.

The doors of the palace banged shut behind us as we emerged into the garden again. I led my friends to the gates of horn and ivory in silence. We found the large round pool, looking just as it had in my dream. I motioned to the gates under the water.

"Morpheus is somewhere in there. We'll have to through the gate of horns, to find a nightmare with a bomb." I pointed to the darker gate. "But first, we should give you some ambrosia for that ankle, Mira."

We gave her as much ambrosia as we could risk, and Theo was happy to practice his first aid skills with a splint made from the branches of one of Persephone's trees (she wouldn't be happy later) and a torn up camp half-blood t-shirt (Fred happily did the tearing.).

When Mira was good to go, we stood by the edge of the water. "Remember guys, all together into the gate of horns."

"Will we all be in the same nightmare?" Mira asked.

"Maybe we should hold hands or something," Tay said, grabbing Fred's hand. Fred took my hand as well, and I felt my cheeks go a little pink. I know we were going into each other's darkest fears and nightmares, but I had never held hands with a guy before. Well, once, but I had given him a bloody nose for it. If it was any consolation, Fred's face was tinted pink as well.

Theo took my other hand and Mira positioned herself on the other side of Tay. "Ready, guys?" Fred asked.

"As we'll ever be," Theo sighed. "Let's go."

We leapt into the water, and fell into the world of nightmares.


End file.
